Reforming Minnesota’s Mental Institutions
Sep 18, 2018
Susan Bartlett Foote, JD, MA
Reforming Minnesota’s Mental Institutions

Susan Bartlett Foote is professor emerita in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, where she was head of the Division of Health Policy and Management from 1999 to 2005. She is author of Managing the Medical Arms Race: Innovation and Public Policy in the Medical Device IndustryShe is also author of The Crusade for Forgotten Souls: Reforming Minnesota’s Mental Institutions, 1946-1954. The Crusade for Forgotten Souls recounts Minnesota’s reform movement that broke the stigma surrounding mental illness, publicized the painful truth about the state’s asylums, and resulted in the first legislative steps toward a modern mental health system. Susan Bartlett Foote tells the story of the early advocates for compassionate care of the mentally ill who made the crusade a success.